Manufacture of felt hats



E. C. GRAVESEN MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS July 1, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 12, 1956 INVENTOR ERNEST C. GRAVESON ATTORNEY July 1, 1958 E. c. GRAVEYSEN I MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 12. 1956 INVENTOR ERNEST C. GRAVESON United States Patent MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS Ernest C. Gravesen, Danbury, Conn.

Application June 12, 1956, Serial No. 590,872

13 Claims. (Cl. 19-148) This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of felt hats, and more particularly to an improved method of and apparatus for providing a welt edge on the brim of such hats and to the improved hat product of said method.

' It is of course well known to make the brim of a fur felt hat heavy for the purpose of providing a so-called welt edge thereon. For example, it is the usual practice of some manufacturers in securing'such a thick or heavy edge. to double over the edge of the cone-shaped bat as it comes from the forming operation, the doubledover. edge being thereupon temporarily secured in place by stitching and thereafter permanently felded to the upper surface of the bat which it overlies consequent to the shrinking operations to which the bat is conventionally subjected. Another expedient for securing added thickness or heaviness to the brim edge was to superim pose a separate strip of fur felt on to the edge of the bat, such strip following temporary securement being felted to the hat or body edge during the latter shrinking operations to which the hat bat is subjected, as with the doubled-over edge. Another suggestion for forming the brim edge thick or'heavy was to form the hat on a specially constructed cone which effected deposition of the fur fibers thereon to a greater thickness along its edge portion than on the major or tip portion of the cone. More recently, it has been attemptedto provide a welt by sticking or adhering a felt strip to the upper surface of the brim along its-edge in a so-called .front shop operation, during which, as is well known in the art, the blocked bodies are given their final finish.

But regardless of how formed, it will be recognized that the prior methods of providing extra thickness in the brim edge portion of a hat as heretofore considered necessary to the production of a welt edge thereon, necessitated mechanical operations in addition to those required in the manufacture of hats having the simpler and hence cheaper raw or bound edge brim. Also, if the extra thickness is imparted to the hat during the bat stage thereof, the bat must be very carefully handled during its subsequent processing in order to protect and maintain the heavy edge. As an example, Welt-edge hat bodies are usually hand-blocked to final brim width, rather than being machine blocked, despite the higher labor cost of the hand-blocking operation. Another disadvantage of the prior welt-edge hats is that their brimedge construction is such that the welt can be formed or brought out on only the upper face of the brim, with the result that welt-edge hat bodies cannot be turned inside out and finished or refinished on their originally inner surface, in the event of imperfections, soil spots, etc. showing on their initially outer surface.

Broadly stated, an important object of the invention is the provision of a method of and apparatus for forming a-so-called welt edge on the brims of fur felt hats of a nature and construction such that a welt may be brought up on either face of the hat brim, thus enabling weltedge hat bodies to be finished on either face thereof.

2,840,864 Patented July 1, 19 58 Such is a decided feature of advantage as it makes possible and practical the procedure of turning the welt-edge hat body inside out and finishing or refinishing the initially inner surface of the hat body in the case 'of imperfections such as dags and weak spots, and soil or grease spots, marring the initially outer surface of the hat body.

An equally important object of the invention is the provision of a method and/or apparatus for forming an embryo welt edge on fur felt hat bodies in the early stage of manufacture thereof, i. e. during forming of the bat on a forming cone, which edge is so constituted that the bat requires no special handling or treatment during its subsequent processing as was heretofore required to maintain the thick or heavy welt-forming edge provided on or applied to the hat hat by the prior procedures, excepting of course that hat bodies of the present invention will be blocked to final brim width in the blocking operation. However, it is possible and practical that welt edge hat bodies of the invention may be machineblocked rather than hand-blocked, as was heretofore considered desirable if not necessary.

Another object of the invention is the provision of apparatus in the nature of a specially constructed forming cone for eifectingthe formation of an embryo welt along the edge of hat bats formed thereon, of a nature and character that the welt can ultimately be brought up on either surface of the brim, and that it can be maintained intact during the normal processing of the bat to final body stage. This latter feature is important in that bats provided with the embryo welt edge according to the invention may be put through the various hat processing operations similarly to the ordinary hat.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of an improved hat body Whose brim edge construction is such that .a welt edge can be brought out on either face of the brim, as enables either the outer or inner face of the hat body to be finally finished.

The above and other more particular objects and features of advantage of the present invention will appear from the following detailed description, in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an enlarged vertical section taken through a conventional hat forming machine but employing the special forming cone as herein proposed;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, part-sectional plan view of an improved forming cone according to the present invention;

Fig. 3 is illustrative of a hat bat formed on a cone as shown in Fig. 2, and which is partly sectioned to illustrate the embryo welt-edge construction as results in the hat brim edge provided by the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a partsectional view of a blocked hat body having its brim edge constructed and arranged according to the invention, prior to final finishing thereof; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are views corresponding to Fig. 4 but illustrating the hat body after finishing thereof and with the welt brought up on the initially outer and inner faces, respectively, of its brim. f

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 10 (Fig. 1) generally designates a fur felt hat-forming machine of a type well known in the art which comprises a vertically disposed enclosure or casing 11 whose interior is under a vacuum drawn by an exhaust fan 12 disposed below the casing proper, and which is driven by a motor 13. Mounted upon an annular rotatable platform or table 14 so as to extend upwardly into the interior of the body of casing 11 is a perforated forming cone generally designated 15. As is well known, the fur fibers which of the fan 12, whereon they loosely interfelt to form a hat bat B which of course has the conical shape of the cone 15. As is well known in the art, the bat B as formed on the forming cone 15 is subsequently stripped from the cone; it is subjected to successive shrinking operations which effect a substantial reduction in its size and a corresponding tight interlocking of the previously loosely interfelted fur fibers making up the same; it is then usually subjected to a blocking operation which changes the shape of the conical body to one having a well defined crown and brim; and, lastly, it progresses to the front shop where it is finally finished.

According to the present invention, the cone 15 is specially constructed with a view to so forming the edge portion of the bat B that not only does said edge portion ultimately provide a welt on the edge of the brim of thefinally finished hat, but also that said welt edge can be-brought out on either face of the brim. Accordingly and as best seen in Fig. 2, whereas the cone 15 is constructed and perforated in the conventional manner throughout its major upper or tip portion designated X, its ledge-zone portion designated Y is made up of three small-depth annular band portions a, b and c. More particularly, extreme edge portion a extends in continuation of the major upper portion of the cone, the next upper or intermediate band portion b is in the nature of an outwardly convex bead or bulge, and the uppermost band portion also extends in continuation of the aforesaid major upper portion X of the cone. Preferably, said extreme-edge band portion a is provided with perforations p of size and number per unit area at least corresponding to the perforations p of the major upper portion X of the cone. In addition to being formed as an outwardly convex bulge or bead, the band portion b is preferably interiorly filled with a hardenable filling material such as lead which fills the original perforations, and said bulged wall and filling material is re-drilled with a multiplicity of radial inward perforations p of smaller diameter than that of the aforesaid perforations p Preferably, the upper band portion 0 has the same number and size of perforations p as the major upper portion X of the cone, but this band portion is backed by a circumferentially adjustable band member M provided with perforations pM normally in register with the perforationsp but which are of a size to reduce the size of said perforations as the band is rotated relative to the cone. The axial depth of said band portions, and particularly of the band portion a, may vary within reasonable limits but it is preferably about %l.

Upon the interior of the former casing 11 having a cone 15 as aforesaid operatively positioned therein being placed under suction, fur fibers deposit on the external surface of the cone in the usual manner; that is to say, they deposit on the upper or major tip portion X of the cone to standard thickness. They also deposit on the edge-band portion a of the cone to either standard or greater than standard thickness, depending on whether the perforations p thereof correspond in size and number to those of the aforesaid upper portion of the cone. Preferably, said perforations p are enlarged somewhat so that the fur fibers deposit to greater than normal thickness on the edge portion a of the cone. Consequent to the outwardly convex surface of the band portion b of the cone, taken with the smaller size of the perforations p formed in said band portion, the fur fibers deposit to a substantially lesser thickness on said band portion b than on the aforesaid edge band portion a. Such appears to .result from thetfact that, in addition to the larger apertures p inducing greater suction effect in the band portion a than dothe apertures p in the baud portion b, the externally convex curvature of the band portion b causes the fur fibers moving thereagainst to pass or slide on to the edge band portion a. Accordingly, the provision of the outwardly bulged band portion b in the cone results in a definite thinness being provided in the bat 4 along a narrow band or zone thereof which .is spaced from extreme bottom edge of the bat by the thicker band depositing on the edge-band portion a of the cone.

The band portion 0, although not essential to the invention, serves the desirable purpose of progressively reducing the thickness of the bat as it merges from its regular-thickness tip or upper portion into the markedly thinned portion depositing on the band portion b. However, regardless of whether or not in the final bat the major portion thereof having normal thickness gradually merges into the thinned portion formed on the outwardly bulged band portion b of the cone, there is always provided a definite line of demarcation between the portions of the bat formed on the band portions b and a.

It will of course be understood that suitable means other than those proposed above for providing progressive decrease in thickness (optional) between the main or tip portion of the bat and the required narrow band of thinness in the bat as aforesaid may be employed within the scope of the present invention. I

Referring to Fig. 3, such attempts to illustrate the novel edge zone construction of a bat B formed on the special cone 15 as aforesaid. In this view the extreme lower edge portion of the bat B as formed on the edge band portion a of the cone 15 appears as a relatively thick band Ba extending along the marginal edge of the bat. The band portion Bb designates the thinned band portion of the bat which has been formed on the bulged band portion b of the cone; and Be designates the band portion of the bat having progressively decreasing thickness if and as formed on the band portion 0 of the cone. Finally, the major tip portion of a bat of normal thickness is designated by the reference character B".

A hat B characterized as in Fig. 3 may be put through the usual operations for converting the bat to the stage of a blocked body ready for finishing, i. e. the shrinking, blocking, pouncing and like operations followed in the production of hats characterized by a raw edge or boundedge brim. As a matter of fact, the only special treatment required of such a bat is that, in blocking, the brim be blocked to final brim width, but this is because his not permissible to round or trim off the brims of welt-edge hats as is the practice with hats whose brims are characterized by the so-called raw edge, for example. However, it will be understood that, while expensive hand-blocking may be desirable, it is not necessary for welt-edge hat bodies as herein proposed, since actual practice has demonstrated thathat bodies having brimedge construction as described can takethe usual machine-blocking operation.

The blocked hat body ready for finishing is generally illustrated in Fig. 4, whereinit will be seen that blocking has resulted in the hat having a well defined crown P and a brim R. This view also generally illustrates the nature and construction of the brim edge portion of the body following the shrinking operations as aforesaid. That is to say, the brim of the hat body now has a well defined and relatively thick edge portion Ea corresponding to the aforesaid edge portion Ba of the bat, Fig. 3, which, although integral with the brim proper, is separated therefrom by a clear line of demarcation as formedby the thinned band B as also shownlin Fig. 3. Moreover, it will be noted that, rather than having the appearance of being formed on the upper surface only of thehat brim, the relatively thickened edge portion Ea is common to both the upper and underfaces of the brim. That is to say, it has the appearancecf being 'formedionboth surfaces-rather than .on .one surface only, and hence can be brought out on either face asnecessary or desirable.

In the :finishing of .hat .bodies'made according to the foregoing the bodies are given the brim finishing :treatment conventionally accorded welt-edge .brim hats. This usually involves ironing of the brimedge with a socalled shackling iron 'and results in the welt W being brought upon theupper face P of the brim, as'is'indicated in Fig. 5. However, as distinguished from the prior hats having a welt-edge brim whose welt can be brought up on only one surface of the brim, the brim edge construction afforded by the present invention is so constituted that the welt W can be brought out on either face of the brim. This is of course a decided feature of advantage as respects hats whose initially outer surface of brim or crown is marred by dags or weak spots or which have become spotted with grease or the like, since such hats can be turned inside out and finished or refinished on their inside surfaces not showing the imperfection. In the prior welt-edge brim hats this reversal was not possible, because the welt could be brought up on only the initially outer surface of the brim.

Thus, if it is determined either before or after the final finishing operation that the initially outer face F (Fig. 5) is imperfect, the hat body may be turned inside out and the welt W brought out on the now upper face F of the hat body which was initially the under or inner surface thereof. Since imperfections found in hats are usually only of a surface nature, the refinished turned hat is to all intents and purposes a first-grade hat.

Without further analysis, it will be appreciated that the improved method of and apparatus for forming Welt edges on hat brims satisfies in able and effective manner the objectives of the present invention outlined therefor in the foregoing. Clearly, the invention provides an effective, practical method of forming an embryo welt edge on the bat during the course of forming thereof, which is so constituted that it imposes no extraordinary limitations on the processing of the bat in the usual manner to the final hat stage, and that it may be brought out on either face of the brim by the conventional finishing operation. The invention also makes it possible and feasible to do away to a large extent with the problem of welt-edge knockdowns, i. e. welt-edge hats which show imperfections on the surface originally intended to be the outer or finished surface. Heretofore such knockdown hats were either discarded or sold as seconds. By the practice of the present invention such knockdowns may be turned inside out and finished or refinished on their initially under surfaces which do not show the imperfection, whereupon they may be sold as first-grade hats in the usual manner.

The improved forming cone according to the present invention may be inexpensively manufactured and its construction is moreover such that its characteristic structural features may be imparted to existing cones without undue labor or material costs.

' The resulting hat product, considered as a rough hat body, may be manufactured in a so-called back shop operation and sold as such to concerns performing the finishing operations, as is usual to some extent in the trade, or it may be manufactured complete by the concern set up to perform both back and front shop operations thereon.v In either case the manufacturer is saved the cost of the additional operations required in the manufacture by the prior procedures of hats characterized by welt edge brims, and he is also assured of economies in the manufacture of such hats deriving from the ability to finish or refinish knockdowns in acceptable manner and thereupon to sell same as first-grade hats.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat, which includes the steps of depositing fur fibers on a substantially conical surface in such manner as to form a hat bat thereon, and in the course thereof causing the fibers to deposit to an appreciably less than normal thickness along a narrow band extending around "6 the bat and which is spaced from the lower edge of the bat a distance corresponding to the depth of bat required to provide a welt of the desired radial width on the edge of the brim of the finished hat, thereby to effect a line of thinness in said brim just inwardly of the welt.

2. The method of producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat, which includes the steps of depositing fur fibers on a substantially conical surface in such man ner as to form a hat bat thereon, and in the course thereof retarding the rate of deposition of the fibers along a narrow band of the bat which extends around the bat and is spaced from the lower edge thereof a distance corresponding to the depth of bat required to provide a welt of the desired radial width on the edge of the brim of finished hat, thereby to effect a line of thinness in said brim just inwardly of the welt.

3. The method of producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat substantially as set forth in claim 1, plus the additional step of causing the fibers to deposit to a progressively decreasing thickness along a narrow band extending around the bat and which is disposed intermediate the tip portion of the bat and said first named band.

4. The method of producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat substantially as set forth in claim 2, plus the additional step of causing the fibers to deposit to a progressively decreasing thickness along a narrow band extending around the bat and which is disposed intermediate the tip portion of the bat and said first named band.

5. The method of producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat substantially as set forth in claim 1, wherein the fur fibers are deposited to a greater than normal thickness along the extreme lower edge band-portion of the bat which forms the welt.

6. The method of producing a Welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat substantially as set forth in claim 2, wherein the fur fibers are deposited to a greater than normal thickness along the extreme lower edge bandportion of the bat which forms the welt.

7. Apparatus for producing a welt edge on the brim of a fur felt hat comprising a perforated hat-forming oone having a major tip portion, an edge-band portion of width corresponding to the depth of bat required to provide a welt of the desired radial width in the finished hat, and a narrow width band portion disposed between said tip and said first-named band portions, said narrowwidth band portion being constructed and arranged as to cause the fur fibers depositing thereon to deposit to substantially lesser thickness than on said tip portion and on said first-named band portion.

8. Apparatus substantially as set forth in claim 7, wherein said narrow-width band portion has smaller-size perforations than said first-named band portion.

9. Apparatus substantially as set forth in claim 7,

wherein said narrow-width band portion has outwardly convex curvature.

10. Apparatus substantially as set forth in claim 7, wherein said narrow-width band portion is outwardly bulged and its perforations are smaller and have greater radial depth than those of said first-named band portion.

11. Apparatus substantially as set forth in claim 7, wherein said narrow-Width band portion is connected to the tip portion by an intermediate band portion constructed and arranged as to cause the fur fibers to deposit thereon to a thickness intermediate the thicknesses of said tip and said narrow-width band portion.

12. Apparatus substantially as set forth in claim 7, wherein the cone is provided intermediate its said tip and said narrow band portions with means for varying the thickness of the bat portion depositing thereon.

13. Apparatus as set forth in claim l2, wherein said means includes a perforated inner band which is circumband.

ReferencesCitedinthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brown Dec. 1, 1891 Busold Dec. 11, '1928 'Cavanagh May 19, 1931 MacKinnon Mar. 8, 1932 MacKinnon June 20, 1933 .MacKinnon May 15, 1934 

